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As our cities grow and change at an unprecedented speed and scale, we are facing more complex challenges – from poverty and environmental threats to inequality and migration.
Studies suggest that between 60 and 84% of the global population resides in urban centers. Cities also generate more than 80% of the global GDP and consume nearly two-thirds of the world’s energy. They also account for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Often the challenges that cities face are interconnected and require an interdisciplinary approach, going beyond sector-specific or technical solutions.
Our two main initiatives in the region explore ways in which urban transformation can take place: City Experiment Fund (CEF) and Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG). These two projects engage cities in systems thinking based processes of unpacking local complexities and designing portfolios of interventions that in time can help effectively address key urban challenges.
CITY EXPERIMENT FUND (CEF)
CEF, implemented in partnership with the Slovak Ministry of Finance, seeks to make sense of and address complex issues negatively impacting the future of cities in the region – including migration, climate change, and inequality – by working at the intersection of innovative approaches and technologies. Up to 10 partner cities are developing multiple, interlinked solutions in response to cross-cutting challenges shared throughout the region and beyond. CEF provides catalytic funding that de-risks investment in experimentation, and supports the cities with the tools and processes to envision their future.
MAYORS FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH (M4EG)
M4EG, implemented in close partnership with the European Union, is designed to deepen the conversation about economic development and explore interdependencies that impact the growth of cities and communities in the Eastern Partnership. “Urban make-over”, which is a cross-cutting theme for all cities taking part in this process, captures both economic aspects of local development, as well as social needs and challenges that stand in the way of creating vibrant communities. The M4EG network has more than 350 towns and cities participating from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Under M4EG, between 30-40 cities are engaging ‘deep’ as demonstration sites, and may join one or several workstreams, including: Portfolio Journey, Urban Imaginaries, a new generation local economic development plans Urban Learning Centre, City Learning Circles, and the EU Respond and Renewal Programme for M4EG supporting crisis affected municipalities in Moldova and Ukraine. Several of the programmes include seed-funds to experiment solution pathways.
PROGRAMMES
PORTFOLIO JOURNEY
Selected cities and communities from the Eastern Partnership will develop portfolios of solutions that can become catalysts for urban make-over. 10 municipalities began their work in 250k EUR in seed-funds per city.
URBAN IMAGINARIES
Urban Imaginaries is an innovation mentorship and grant programme, which employs human-centered design and foresight to create seed solutions for broader systems transformation. 18 municipalities began in 2022, with 60k EUR in seed-funds. For it, we are working with the Centre for Public Impact to reimagine city life (learn about their work in their latest report on rethinking government.
URBAN LEARNING CENTER
The Urban Learning Center (ULC) is an umbrella platform, bringing together M4EG’s programmes, to enable a learning ecosystem. A number of learning modules around city innovation will be introduced, starting from 2023.
OUR APPROACH
Each urban challenge goes far beyond what it represents on the surface.
Whether we work on air pollution, access to economic opportunities or effective public transportation, we always find that these aspects of urban living have a variety of intertwined causes and spill over to other areas that impact the quality of life in a city. That is why we introduced a rigorous process of exploration to understand the problem in-depth, identify existing solutions, and design new ones that, when activated, can bring about unprecedented structural transformation and learning for local teams. [Read more about Portfolio Development]
1. Deep listening & sensemaking
2. Foresight
3. Portfolio design
4. Human-centered design
5. Urban hackathons & innovation challenges
6. Impact assessment frameworks
HIGHLIGHTS
Reimagining urban finance for a climate-resilient future
At last week’s COP29, nations faced an urgent priority – addressing the critical role of finance in adapting to climate change and tackling loss and damage.
Transforming biowaste into business value
Is the biowaste industry becoming a new ‘green business’ opportunity in North Macedonia? How can we unlock its potential? Managing biowaste in urban centers like
UNDP announces selected participants for the BOOST: Urban Future Finance
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Europe and Central Asia, in partnership with SocialTech Lab, announced the selection of 19 innovative finance solutions for the
Unlocking the Power of Crowdfunding with Moldovan Municipalities
Ten municipalities in Moldova joined a crowdfunding training programme to gain skills in creating and running effective crowdfunding campaigns for local projects. When one thinks of
CEF IN NUMBERS
10
city experiments
10
city experiments
$60,000
in grants per city
M4EG IN NUMBERS
350+
local authorities in 5 countries
80+
new members
1000+
representatives re-thinking local development
35+
municipalities selected for various programmes
“We are called to be the architects of the future, not its victims.”
– Buckminster Fuller
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We support UNDP offices, governments, and partners in advancing strategic urban innovation to design and implement impactful interventions in cities to transform our society for the better.
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